Thursday, January 28, 2016

The followings are interesting conversations regarding ego and awareness. Ramana Maharishi said that ego, or the knot between the body (matter) and Self (awareness) has to be cut.(my comment from the perspective of Buddhism): I understand that it's impossible to cut the knot because ego (body) and awareness (Self) are interdependent co-arising and are two sides of the same coin. If ego (body) is removed, awareness (Self) is also removed. It is like the relation between light and darkness. If the darkness is removed, the light is allso removed. The issue is that most people are only ego, without reviving awareness (Self).(a person's comment from the perspective of Vedantism):The one thing that light cannot find is darkness.(my comment from the perspective of Buddhism):Is that so? I understand that light (awareness) can recognize darkness (ego).(a person's comment from the perspective of Vedantism):You were talking about "light and darkness" not awareness. Awareness can make no distinctions; It neither is nor is-not in its ubiquity; It cognizes itself only in the presence of Consciousness; otherwise, It is un-aware of its Awareness. No Consciousness, no Awareness. (Awareness is another term for Absolute) Pranams.(my comment from the perspective of Buddhism):There seems to be a difference in the definition of awareness between Buddhism and Vedantism. In my understanding, awareness transcends time and space. So, awareness can live in the phenomenal world and the noumenal world at the same time. What you are talking about is based on the ultimate truth in the noumenal world. And my above statement (awareness can recognize ego) is based on the ultimate truth in the phenomenal world, namely interdependent co-arising (emptiness or non-duality).